AP: Steel City

It's been a long while since an AP was posted on these forums, but I always found them helpful when preparing for a session, so I thought people might appreciate a playthrough of 2nd Edition.

Our setting is based loosely on the city we all live in (Sheffield, UK) which is famous for its steel industry, and surrounded by the rolling hills and valleys of the Peak District interspersed with the occasional village. Let's meet the cast!

Phoenix - The Driver, cool as a winter morning and willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck. Once tied someone to his pickup truck and played tug of war as a form of torture at the behest of...

Stomp - The Faceless, wears a face of leather, which was probably other peoples' faces at some point. Utterly deferential to his mask, Norman, and very self-conscious of how scary he is. Gets along well with those that aren't frightened of him, such as...

Nif - The Child Thing, nobody quite remembers when or how he showed up, but he's often seen wandering around the place, following balls of twine nobody else can see. Gets into places no matter how well they try and fortify them, and has used this to steal from...

Vega - The Hardholder, reluctant ruler of Forge. Once a no-nonsense freedom fighter, she overthrew the warlord who used to run this place, and then ended up having to take care of it when nobody stepped up to the plate. She was got all the arms and armour for her resistance movement from...

Spector - The Savvyhead, likes weird and wacky weaponry. Currently trying to find a battery strong enough to power a machete taser. Built a huge, automatic shotgun, which is the favourite instrument of...

Rhythm - The Show, attempting to cross-breed 80s synth-pop with hair-metal, even though nobody knows what those things mean anymore. Phoenix currently holds his leash, and does his best to look after this strange musician who seems to have become attached to him.

That's it for now. It's a big group, which is proving a handful, but I think it's working out alright. I'll write up a short summary of the first session and some lessons learned later today. Let me know if you're interested!

That's an interesting and unorthodox mix of playbooks - as well as a huge cast! I'd love to hear more about how it went.

I tried to keep this brief, but found that I had a lot to say. It should be shorter for future sessions. Enjoy!

Let's start with character creation. First of all, there's a huge list for your players to pick from if you include the extended playbooks, so I found it helpful to put together a list of the names, descriptions, reasons to play and reasons not to play for each playbook. After they all picked their characters I ran through the "say this first and often" and "setting expectations" sections of the MC's guide as they looked over the sheets, which went down very well.
The Savvyhead asked the rules for Augury so I fished out the peripheral moves sheet, it might be worth having this on hand when your players pick their moves if it could be relevant to their decisions.
For the players new to the system, I gave a brief description of the the stats and the basic moves so they knew what they were picking. I also found it worth mentioning the scale of Harm with regards to NPCs so they knew how kickass their weapons were.

While doing Hx, Asking questions like crazy was the most important thing. The players were all really enthusiastic about it, springboarding off each other's answers with minimal nudging and giving me plenty of fodder for interesting NPC triangles.

We started out with Phoenix driving Stomp and Rhythm out into the suburbs to do a bit of scavenging, looking for batteries at Spector's request. After finding a likely looking ruin, Phoenix and Rhythm said they wanted to search the building and both picked up their dice; they were both very surprised when I said that there was no "perception check" in PbtA games. Phoenix rummaged through drawers and cupboards finding some old scissors and notebooks and general office paraphernalia worth 1-barter, Rhythm searched around for an old boy band poster, sandwiching it between two bits of white-board for protection. Stomp asked Norman for advice, and failed the roll, Norman decided he wanted this place ruined. I'll definitely make Norman a threat for next session, probably a Pain Addict. Sledding down the rubble on the whiteboards and using the winch on Phoenix's truck to tear down the building, they set off back.

Meanwhile, back in Forge, the population was idle. Corbett was hanging around Vega's office just because he had nothing better to do. Spector used his Augury to try and search the maelstrom for electricity, and he found a power station somewhere out in the city that was still running somehow, and was connected to the maelstrom in some way. As he found it, the lights started to flicker. In Vega's office, Corbett got pissed at the fluctuating power, but Vega scared him off with the threat of her gang, especially her lieutenant sniper, Mimi (I think we'll see Corbett more in future).

Nif opened his brain looking for treats, and followed a crazy blue-green thread of twine through the compound to Spector, who was just going to fetch help to go and investigate the power station. Spector bluffed his way into Vega's office past Hugo, who was under orders to not let any dickheads in after Corbett caused problems. They found Vega sniffing "sofa" the local drug that was made from the stuffing of old couches. Nif heard the grinding noise that meant a Wolf was nearby, and spent the meeting jumping out of his skin. When Mimi spotted Phoenix returning, they all agreed to go and talk to him about transport.

All the players wanted to go see what was up, so with nobody left to look after things Vega left Mimi in charge, just as Nif realised that she was a Wolf under her disguise. Spector directed them in the direction he remembered for the power station. This turned out to take them through Newton's territory, home of the Wild Dog gang. Reading the Sitch for his best route and failing, Phoenix inadvertently led  them into a trap. Rhythm played a stunning rendition of "The wheels on the bus" to give Phoenix an extra choice while he seized the road by force. Spector attempted to assist by blowing oil into the engine Fury Road-style, but failed. Phoenix blew through the blockade and was clear, but nobody had any idea where Spector had gone.

At this point, I chose to spend Spector's failed Bonefeel roll from the start of the session to have him captured by Wild Dogs. His hands chained behind his back and his ass wedged into the frame of a chair with the seat removed. He saw two people pacing around the room but managed to pretend to be unconscious. He tried to throw himself into the nearest one and dive out the window, but failed his go aggro roll and only managed to alert them that he was awake.

The rest of the players turned around and snuck back to the ambush site. Nif failed to Open his brain, and started mindlessly following a thread back into the thick of it. Stomp and Rhythm followed to back him up while Phoenix and Vega ran for the truck. The fight was a bloodbath, with retrospect I should have had one of them take the lead and the others help, maybe with the new optional battle moves, rather than all of them rolling separately and dealing 10 (fucking ten) harm to a small gang. Having run a lot of 1st edition I keep forgetting that these new moves exist, but they definitely seem useful. We ended the session there due to running out of time, so I need to remember to have the players do Hx next session.

With so many players, progress was slow, and until they grouped up it was hard to give them all enough screen time. When we change the highlights, I'll try and make sure they end up with their best stat highlighted more often than not, and either Sharp or Weird so that they earn improvements slightly more regularly, it would take two or three sessions at the current rate, I'm aiming for one or two as the average.

Second session report! (Oops, seems I was lying when I said these would be shorter. Oh well)


We kicked off right back in the action with our captured Savvyhead, Spector. I didn't want him to just Bonefeel out of there in the first scene without squeezing a bit of drama out of it first, so starting with him made sense. Threats and questions were immediately flying at him, a woman with a sledgehammer glaring at him and wanting to know who he was travelling with ("This is Newton, she's in charge of this hold and the Wild Dogs gang. You know her by reputation; small, wiry, and angry like a chihuahua" Warlord - Slaver). When he attempted to shrug off the questions, she threatened to break his kneecaps, to which he said "Go on then." With that opportunity served to me on a silver platter, Newton did indeed smash him in the knees with her hammer, and following a bad roll on the harm move, he was gagged and blindfolded and dragged away, thrown in the back of a truck. After a series of awful rolls on the dice this session and the last, the player was afraid to make moves in case something bad happened, so I broke from play for a bit to remind him that I wasn't out to get him, and that while waiting passively meant his was less likely to have bad stuff happen to him (but not no bad stuff) it also meant less good stuff and a generally less interesting experience.


Back with the other players, Nif withdrew into the maelstrom to heal his wounds and Vega led the rest through the alley towards the holding. With three blocks of flats around them, Rhythm opened his brain while the others made a beeline towards someone standing by a dog kennel. Failing the roll, the horrible, discordant music in Rhythm's heart began to blare out across the courtyard, driving the dogs in the kennel mad. Phoenix attempted to threaten the information out of the dog-handler, but he ran away, so they followed him into the building. Finding some locals, Stomp tried to be nice to them, which somehow worked, and they found their way to Newton in the underground parking lot of the building. One unsuccessful attempt at bartering for the savvyhead later, Phoenix tried to ram Newton with a car, despite his comrades standing right next to her. On a partial success on Go Aggro, Newton got the hell out of the way and took off in the truck. Stomp tried to dodge, but was too slow, Vega didn't even attempt to get out of the way as she tried to shoot Newton in the back. I probably should have looked up the rules for vehicle damage beforehand, but with 5-harm (ap) from a direct hit, Stomp's life became untenable and Vega was at death's door.


Leaving the two others bleeding on the floor, Rhythm and Phoenix followed after Newton. Spector wriggled free of his blindfold and leapt from the back of the truck to the pursuing car, being barely caught by Rhythm. Nif popped back into existence just in time to see the two vehicles careen past, but just shrugged and went off scavenging in the nearest building. I introduced a custom move, which I've used a variation on before in another game where scavenging was important: When you try to find something in the ruins, roll +Sharp. On a hit: you find something. On a 7-9: something or someone finds you. On a miss: you don't find anything useful, but something or someone finds you. Nif hit the roll on a 7-9, so found some valuables to pay his way for another couple of sessions, but the truck - now missing its cargo - came back, and he realised it was a wolf (wolves are machines under their disguises).


Vega left the parking lot, but didn't make it far before succumbing to her wounds. Stomp woke up shortly after, and followed a guide presented by the maelstrom (Landscape - Mirage) to Vega's body. Not knowing any first aid, he asked his mask for advice, but Norman (Grotesque - Pain Addict) simply suggested to him that Vega had too many fingers. Spector used Bonefeel to get into the scene to help, but found that the "right tools for the job" in this case consisted of a tourniquet and a pair of boltcutters. Unable to stop Stomp, Spector just sat and watched as Vega woke up screaming and missing a pinkie. Stomp apologised profusely, very upset at what he'd done; weirdly, cutting off Vega's finger seems to have gotten her interested in him (relationships are strange in the Apocalypse World).


Phoenix pulled up in the car -having already rescued Nif from the wolf - and the roadtrip continued. Nif ate Vega's missing finger as a light snack. Yum.


They stopped at an old hospital to scrounge for medical supplies, and all managed to patch themselves up to varying degrees. Spector grabbed a pressurised canister of some unknown gas to take with him. At this point, the sound of bike engines and a distant "Huzzah!" reached Phoenix's ears; Lancer's Lot (Brutes - Enforcers) showed up. A biker gang based out of a history museum, wearing plate armor and wielding lances, swords, and WWI rifles. The players loved these guys and gals, so they'll definitely be appearing again. Evidently, the players were on their territory; however, wanting to avoid a confrontation, Rhythm and Phoenix rode out to give them a mobile concert and draw them away. Unable to outpace the bikes, Phoenix thought fast and led them back to the rest of the group to talk it out. The players agreed to leave peacefully, and rode off into the sunset.


Finally arriving at the power station they set out to find, they got pinned down by a sniper on a gantry. Spector used the tank of gas he had taken earlier as a very makeshift mortar, taking some serious damage from the explosion when he knocked the cap off the canister but managing to scare away the sniper. We finished there and then.


That was an incredibly fun session. I'm slightly worried that it seems to be playing like a traditional, party-based adventure, but the players are having fun and I'm having fun, so I'm not that bothered. I'm loving the relationships the players are forming between each other, I can't wait to mess with them using PC-NPC-PC triangles when they're not constantly running away from all the NPCs they meet.


The new players are definitely getting the hang of the syste - the small changes in wordings and rulings for the most common moves make it much easier to teach than I was expecting, especially Seize by Force. The 2nd edition "Road War" moves are a godsend, so thank you very much Vincent; I suggest you always keep them in mind when playing with vehicles in your games. It's hilarious and brilliant how much awesome gameplay has come out of a power station I made up due to an Augury roll and a gang and holding I made up because of a failed Read a Sitch; play to find out is an important agenda for a reason. Oh, and with regards to the levelling: the rate seems about right for now, though Stomp and Vega got a hell of a boost from that +5-Hx with Phoenix when he ran them over.


See you next week!

Third session begins!


Our Savvyhead player couldn't make it for this session, so not for the first time Spector disappeared without warning. This created a bit of an awkward situation, as the group had arrived at the power station at his request. Not wanting to waste the trip, Vega and Phoenix led the way inside. After a slow and tense journey down a dark corridor, where Nif heard the clatter of metal feet skittering in the vents they reached a closed door. From various attempts to read the sitch and open their brains, they only knew that something hungry lived on the other side, and that the car they had parked outside had just been stolen. While Phoenix ran outside in a futile attempt to catch it, Rhythm opened the door. An ancient turbine was spinning slowly, through a hole in the casing they could see blood coating the blades. Stomp asked his mask for advice, but Norman just reminded him of what he already knew; power must be payed for in blood.


As they examined the machine, one of Tum Tum (Grotesques - Mindfuckers) came through the door behind them and asked if they had come to feed the Great Old One. As he bowed to them he revealed the rifle on his back, and they realised he was the sniper from outside. Without pause, Vega reacted, grabbing him by the collar and heaving him through the hole into the turbine. As the blades chewed up the body, Nif heard a scream through the maelstrom, but nevertheless the turbine increased in speed, and the power stabilised.


Nif retreated into the maelstrom, taking Phoenix with him and attempting to bring them out again in the new position of the car. Vega led the other two on a search for alternative transport, finding a working truck. Ploughing on through the night and heedless of Lancer's Lot trying to stop them the truck made it back to the hold, where a body was hanging above the gate, swinging in the breeze.


Nif and Phoenix popped out in the middle of the road, the pickup that had been stolen in front of them. Wary of an ambush, Nif hopped into the buildings on the side of the road and ran across the other of Tum Tum, one eye blood-red and leaking from the loss of her other half. The rest of Tum Tum's gang all piled in, Phoenix took advantage of the situation to steal back his car; ramming the gang and picking up Nif, they set off for home.


Investigating the swinging body, Rhythm spotted two more hanged from the central tower where Vega lives. Asking around it turned out that two of them, Mercer the storemaster and Peppering, had been lynched for personal slights. Nobody seemed to know why poor Millions was hanging by her neck. Stomp went looking for work, and was hired by Princy to take out a rival market vendor, Winkle. After seducing the poor guy into an alleyway, Stomp barely paused from slicing off his face to listen to Vega announcing over the loudspeakers that she wouldn't put up with any more murders. Mimi was acting shifty, having been left in charge Vega was not happy with her performance, but it wasn't until Nif did some sniffing around that anyone worked out that she had been the one who strung up Millions.


As convening in Vega's office, the group waited patiently for Mimi to show up, but she never did. Phoenix spotted a figure retreating down the road, way off in the distance. Vega decided that since she was down a lieutenant, she needed a new one. For some inexplicable reason, she decided Stomp was the best fit and we left the session there.


The players seem to have handled the transition to more typical Apocalypse World style of play pretty well, which I was glad to see. They all picked up their own goals organically and split off from there, though I may need to prod Rhythm to come up with some sort of scheme to work on; without the start-of-session gigs as stepping off points the Show lacks motivating factors even worse than the Skinner. Since Forge has a large, savage population and only a small gang, it's going to be interesting to see Stomp and Vega attempt to instil order on them, especially if the start-of-session Wealth roll goes badly next week.

I found this; a good representation of the aesthetic of Lancer's Lot. Enjoy!

http://izzet-chaosmage.tumblr.com/post/152071455689/theghostoffawkes-elijayne

Hey everyone, sorry this report is a bit late; had meetings and birthday parties and other such gigs to do. Anyway, on with the session!


Neither Spector nor Nif were present for this session, though I have love letters written for them for when they reappear. Everything kicked off with a partial success on Vega's Wealth roll; strangers were hanging around the market. After a quick look at my threats sheet, I decided that Newton had was the most obvious candidate to be plotting at the moment. Stomp noticed that some people dressed in the same sort of scraps and leathers as the Wild Dogs were wandering around the market, not buying anything but also not causing any trouble. After this was reported to Vega, she set her best men on it; Phoenix and Rhythm. Watching the strangers for a while they noticed that every hour or so one of them would leave the hold, returning half an hour later. Deciding to follow them, Phoenix was unable to find enough cover to follow on street level, so he climbed a building and watched the Wild Dog's progress from up high.


After determining where the stranger was going, and waiting for him to pass by on his way back, Phoenix sneaked up to the meeting place. Spying Newton through a window, he decided to ignore Vega's orders to simply gather information and instead took a pot-shot. Unfortunately, he missed his go aggro roll and Newton ran for it. After reporting back, an exasperated Vega sent Stomp to follow the next one. Stomp was able to find enough cover to follow Jackabacka - who he knew for certain was a Wild Dog - on street level, mostly by making new cover where none was before. The meeting place was, of course, empty. So, not wanting to return empty handed Stomp lay in wait behind a wall an burst through to kidnap Jackabacka as he passed. Some pant-wetting interrogation later, Jackabacka revealed that Newton was looking for new slaves while the market was busy.


Vega had the new prisoner locked up, but Rhythm had a plan. Talking to Tao, the carpenter, he commissioned a stage to be mounted on the back of Phoenix's truck. Given the simplicity of his needs, and the pay he was offering (out of Phoenix's pocket) Tao started work immediately. Meanwhile, Vega was in the bar getting absolutely plastered with Doghead, who was grieving poor Millions. After Doghead passed out, drunk-Vega decided it would be a fantastic idea to interrogate the new prisoner. Luckily, Stomp found her and escorted her to the prison. Opening the door, Jackabacka tried to make a break for it, but between them they threw him back in his cell; though Vega took a sucker punch to the ribs for her trouble. When the stage was completed in the evening, Rhythm convinced Phoenix to drive it to the marketplace. Rhythm cracked open the world, playing the noise the dinosaurs heard when they looked up and saw the fireball to make all the listeners into a cult.


Morning came with the sound of distant bike engines. Phoenix was the first to react, recognising a contingent of Lancer's Lot in the distance from the shine of their breastplates. As all the characters woke up and made their preparations, Phoenix brought out his 'dozer. Covered in spikes and plates, with a .50cal MG in the roof, he was ready for a fight. Stomp revealed what he had been working on recently, as a monster truck roared into life and took up position ready to charge. As the gang drew closer, Vega spotted Mimi directing them from the back of one of the bikes. The fight was messy and brutal, culminating in Stomp ramming the survivors and grinding them to a pulp beneath his wheels, ruining the tires in the process. As three of the twenty original bikes fled, Vega searched the bodies, but didn't find Mimi.


Stomp tried to get his wheels fixed by Isle, Vega's mechanic, and asked his mask for advice on how to barter with what little money he had. He failed the roll, and Norman told him to threaten her into doing it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) he failed that roll too, and Isle being a no-nonsense kind of girl just kicked him in the crotch and ran off to find Vega. Vega was not happy to hear what had happened, Stomp arrived just after Isle had left and after a long and distrustful conversation. Vega agreed to get Isle to work on the monster truck provided that this never happen again (yeah, that's going to happen).


With fewer players present, this session was much easier to manage, with everyone getting more time to be awesome in. It was good to see Rhythm doing some scheming, and utilising crack open the world, but I worry he's only connected to the other players via Phoenix, so I'll have to shake that up a bit next session. Writing the love letters was fun, and I think they should definitely go some way towards mitigating the feel-bad of missing out on a session or two. The inter-player drama was amazing, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Not knowing any first aid, he asked his mask for advice, but Norman (Grotesque - Pain Addict) simply suggested to him that Vega had too many fingers.

Holy fuck dude.

I need one of my players to go Faceless.

Quote from: Dabrainbox on October 13, 2016, 06:44:57 AM

Not knowing any first aid, he asked his mask for advice, but Norman (Grotesque - Pain Addict) simply suggested to him that Vega had too many fingers.

Holy fuck dude.

I need one of my players to go Faceless.

I know right? Wait until you see what he got up to last session. Report coming later today!

So, Spector's player seems to have dropped out. I would have liked it if he'd let me know rather than just not turning up, but I'm not too bothered. Vega couldn't make it this week but offered her apologies, and man is that leading to an interesting session when she gets back. Enjoy!


Nif had been following Mimi around while he was missing, however he didn't do a great job of it, so while he knew who she'd been talking to he didn't know where she was, and she was now hunting him. Stomp went to visit Isle to apologise, and offered her a bit of barter. This put him a bit short on scratch, so he decided to try and sell Jackabacka to the local slaver, Newton. Conveniently Rhythm and Nif were planning a concert at Newton's hold, and had hijacked Phoenix for transportation. Stomp tagged along with Jackabacka over his shoulder, and the group set off.


Their arrival heralded a chorus of howls from the nearby buildings, spreading the word. More and more Wild Dogs poured out of the hold, gathering in front of the mobile stage. Rhythm struck up a song, pandering to his audience and getting them to pay 10 barter to Phoenix, who was gathering a collection. When the song was over, Stomp called out to Newton and flirted with her a bit. Rolling to seduce, he hit the roll on a 10+ and they went off to her office to "negotiate" over the ownership of Jackabacka.


Nif followed along, taking advantage of the distracted crowd to loot the abandoned hold. He found a nice, sharp hatchet, but was interrupted by a weird kid called Rufe, with eyes that changed colour every time he blinked. They struck up a quick friendship, but when Stomp came marching down the corridor (with a fresh bite-mark on his neck) he disappeared. Nif followed his cue and withdrew into the maelstrom, watching what was happening in the area while he was gone.


As Stomp returned to Forge with the others, Nif watched people come and go. Eventually, with a clattering, grinding noise a bundle of bloodsoaked knives in a humanoid shape climbed up through the window. Slowly, the knives folded inwards until Mimi was revealed, she knocked on Newton's office door and went inside. Nif popped back into the real world and attempted to sneak into a position to listen in. He got close enough to overhear something about an attack on Forge, but fell through the ceiling right onto the desk. In a panic, Nif grabbed out at Newton and pulled them both into the Maelstrom. Within the void, he interrogated the slaver, learning as much as he could about the attack.
 
As Phoenix drove back into Forge with the rest, they noticed musical notes scratched into the walls, and the populace were dressing like Rhythm. Outside the garage, a small shrine had been erected; Phoenix immediately took advantage by setting up a donations bowl.

Nif and Newton popped back into existence in Stomp's house, and Nif immediately ran away. This presented a problem, and Stomp began working on ways to potentially sneak her out of the hold. He went to Rhythm, and took his clothes for use as a disguise, but upon arriving back at the Stomping Ground (his words) it turned out they were far too big for the small and wiry Newton.


Meanwhile, the now naked Rhythm was mobbed by his adoring fans. In an attempt to get them to leave him alone, he cracked open the world, using them for augury and opening a window into the music of the Maelstrom. Stomp saw distorted performances of musicians, Rhythm somehow saw music itself in physical form, Phoenix saw impossible instruments, but Nif saw none of this. Instead, the Child-Thing saw a matronly woman wearing a porcelain mask. Failing a roll to open his brain, the woman screamed at him that he'd been a naughty boy, that he should have been causing more chaos.


Stomp grabbed Phoenix to try and smuggle Newton out in the car, while Nif went on the attack, maiming and killing Wild Dogs who were hanging around in the market. Roark, one of Vega's gang, spotted Newton as Phoenix drove them out and the driver floored it to escape.


Holy shit that was an incredible session, and somehow every player did something to piss of the hardholder who wasn't there. Amazing idea for Vega's love letter: Roll + Sharp to find out what's been going on, on a 10+ 3, on a 7-9 2, on a miss 1

• You find out what Rhythm did
• You find out what Nif did
• You find out what Phoenix did
• You find out what Stomp did

Really looking forward to next week!

That's a great love letter! I dig.

We kicked off this week's session with Vega's love letter, which was pretty much how I came up with it last week. Vega missed the sharp roll, so she got to find out that Stomp had sold her prisoner into slavery and slept with her closest rival, Newton, but everyone in her hold was annoyed that she'd taken the time off.

Stomp picked up a small hold as an advance when he earned xp while doing Hx at the end of last session, so he had spent a couple of days setting up The New Stomping Ground in an old shopping precinct between Forge and the Wild Dogs. His citizens were a bunch of violent fuckers, earning money through protection rackets and competing in blood sports for fun. Due to a 7-9 hit on the Wealth roll things were going okay, except they were all tearing into each other like a bunch of rabid animals. Nif had been starving for a few days, and was hanging around the fighting pit causing trouble. He took a bit of a beating from Rice, one of the Wild Dogs who had migrated Stomp's hold, but developed a taste for blood in the process, picking up Feral and happily gorging himself on torn off ears and severed extremities.


Rhythm was a bit battered and bloodied from the events of the past few sessions, so went to find Kettle to get stitched up. He performed a little song for her, using Artful and Gracious to get his treatment for free, and while he was blissed out on chillstabs he opened his brain, trying to learn the strange lullaby Nif had been singing while he butchered the Wild Dogs in the market. Rhythm didn't manage to learn the tune, but he saw the porcelain mask of Nif's mother and knew he would have to talk to her if he wanted more.


Meanwhile, Vega and Phoenix were getting ready to go give Stomp a gift basket (read: sack of "meat") to help him settle in to the neighbourhood and covertly see what was going on. As they were pulling out of the hold, they noticed the lights start flickering again. At The New Stomping Ground, the brawl was in full swing. Stomp was trying and failing to establish order, much to Vega's amusement. With the gift basket handed over, Phoenix and Vega were planning on heading back to the power plant to try and get the hungry generator running again and an exasperated Stomp decided he didn't want to deal with his citizens, so he executed Balls - the worst offender - and tagged along.


They passed through Wild Dogs territory without issue, though Stomp did have a bit of a lovers' quarrel with Newton (she didn't like him trying to be protective of her) but Lancer's Lot were another matter. Between them, Stomp and Phoenix had slaughtered dozens of the knights outside the gates of Forge, so they were very careful picking there way through that section of the city. Vega spotted some bikes following down parallel streets, but they didn't attack. When the travelling party reached the river however, they found that the bridge had collapsed. Phoenix carefully lead them down the bank and forded the river, but progress up the slope of the far bank was much slower. When they reached the top, they found a contingent of Lancer's Lot waiting. After some tense discussion, the knights agreed to let them pass. Unfortunately, at this point Rhythm used Bonefeel to appear from the back of Phoenix's truck and challenged them to a joust on the Driver's behalf. One of the knights threw down his gauntlet, and Phoenix reluctantly accepted. They set up at opposite ends of the street and charged, Rhythm used his battlesong to make the knights admire his patron with Artful and Gracious, and to Crack Open the World and use Augury to contact Mother. The Joust went in Phoenix's favour, and he was made an honorary knight, while Rhythm was sat on the roof, learning the lullaby of the maelstrom to satisfy his morbid curiosity.


Nif was also listening to Mother, causing as much chaos as he could by riling up the citizens of The New Stomping Ground into a blood-frenzy. He terrified some of them into helping him find Mimi, who was still hunting him, and he knew she was close.


The travelling group arrived at the power station, and cautiously approached the generator. Rhythm heard metal claws pattering in the vents, and enlisted Stomp's help to find out what it was. He saw glassy eyes in the darkness, and waited until it got closer to grab it and pull it into the open. A shiny, metal, cat-sized wolf went into a frenzy, clawing and biting at the musician. Phoenix opened his brain to try and work out what it was, but only succeeded in drawing the attention of the Wolves of the Maelstrom. Stomp killed the wolf, smashing it into the ground, while Phoenix took off running for safety. Rhythm followed, bleeding out badly and carrying the metallic remains. Vega saw the local techies watching her, and threatened to smash the generator to draw them out. When the remaining one of Tum Tum stepped out, Stomp and Vega grabbed her and fed her into the machine, securing them electricity for another couple of weeks.


Another interesting session, especially all the passive-aggressive behaviour between Vega and Stomp that came out in play. With Forge yet again left unprotected, and a pissed off Mimi and Newton the slaver in the area, there will definitely be consequences. I'm planning on adding an option to Crack Open the World as a custom move to represent the lullaby; currently thinking of inflicting ?-harm to the listeners, but I'll have a ponder before righting up. I'd appreciate any ideas. Also, Stomp advanced again, picking a second character; I look forward to meeting them next session.

Dude that was a really cool read through . Would love to see more .

What are your thoughts on the childthing? Just from my first looks I'm not a big fan , the wolves of the maelstrom seem a bit out of place and the ability to just drop into the maelstrom whenever seems off to me , but that might just be because it doesn't fit into the story I want to tell with my AW game.